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For the independent musician, sounding amazing isn't a luxury only available to well-funded artists anymore - it is a must. Music sales may have diminished, but that doesn't mean that recorded music is on its way out. Far from it. More music is being consumed on more devices by more listeners than ever before in history! Musicians are making their music available on internet and satellite radio, online music streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, Deezer, and YouTube, selling on direct-to-fan sites such as CD Baby, Bandcamp, and ReverbNation, and still pushing sales through ‘traditional' online retailers such as iTunes and Amazon MP3. Simply put, there is no excuse for an artist to put out poor recordings. To many, audio engineers are still conundrum. To others, they are ‘evil' manipulators of sound, creating phony, auto-tuned, machines out of untalented artists. This, however, is far from fact. Every record, no matter the genre, gets handled by a recording engineer, mix engineer, and mastering engineer. The recording engineer uses many of microphones and technique to accurately capture and record the artist's performance as it occurs in the recording studio. The mixing engineer takes all of the separate audio tracks and crafts the music to sound correct and convey the song's emotion. He sets the right levels, panning, equalization, compression, and adds special effects where needed to complement the artist's vision. Lastly, the mastering engineer uses special tools and highly trained ears in an acoustically sound room to subtly polish and prepare the track for final release and ensure the sound translates to a variety of playback systems. "While many audio techniques can enhance the final production, we engineers are not magicians and can't replace a poor performance or terrible recording," says Scott of Virtual Mix Engineer. Recorded music is more often used as promotional vessel for artists. The real money currently is in converts, publishing, sync placements, and merchandise. When a listener connects with a band's music, they'll listen to their music, comment, and share the music with their friends. The fans want to support the artist and buy tickets to their shows, purchase t-shirts, and follow and interact with the group through social media. As the musician grows in popularity, their music may be chosen for sync placements in movies and TV, which not only provides great exposure, it also pays well. To make it to this stage however, it all starts with well written song and convincing recording. The rise of DIY recording has led to more artists releasing music than ever before. With a powerful computer, some mics, a DAW, and a little knowledge, anyone can create and distribute music. One area where many artists fall short is failing to recognize their weaknesses in audio engineering. An experienced mixer has the right tools, but most importantly the skills to make a recording reach its full potential. Though it can be difficult for an artist, letting go and trusting your mixer will take your recordings to the next level and help you stand out from the others. Listeners are instantly attracted to a well-written and performed song that sounds like a hit. Spend the proper time in pre-production, ensuring your composition and arrangement are as strong as possible. Then and only then, get into the best studio you can afford to lay down your tracks. Hire a local or online mix engineer within your budget whose work and personality you like, and tweak the mix until you're happy. Lastly, send the songs off to a mastering house for that final polish. Once your record is finished, you can get the music into multiple stores and into the phones and computers of your listeners and fans. Scott Horton is the ultimate example of the contemporary mixing engineer/producer/songwriter. He has collaborated with a myriad of music groups from around the world in all musical genres ranging from Pop, Pop-Rock, Hip-Hop,RnB, Urban and more. His online mixing and mastering service, Virtual Mix Engineer, provides artists and record labels with superb sounding mixes which make impressions that count. Come say hi to Scott at http://www.virtualmixengineer.com
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